Pro surfer and Kauai native Alana Blanchard has been plenty busy lately.
The third season of her video series, “Alana: Surfer Girl” hosted on NetworkA.com, has begun and she recently released her own swimwear brand all while still competing internationally.
Despite her hectic schedule, Blanchard took some time to answer some questions for The Garden Island via email.
The Garden Island: With the third season of “Alana: Surfer Girl” underway, what are some new things fans of the show can expect that haven’t been done in previous seasons? What can fans who haven’t seen the show before look forward to?
Alana Blanchard: This season we focused on the competitive surf season. There is lot of behind the scenes at the World Tour stops and also we did a road trip with Rip Curl to Australia for a promo tour promoting the new bikini line. If you haven’t seen the show already, what are you waiting for?
TGI: How has the show helped you interact with your fans? As it seems you are a very busy person. How often are you able to respond to fan letters, emails, etc.?
AB: I feel like the show has given me a really cool way to share my life with my fans. I’ll be honest, I’m not great at keeping up with fan letters, but I’m going to try to be better about that.
TGI: Is it weird for you to have cameras constantly around you for the show? Have you, or not, become more comfortable with the cameras with each passing season?
AB: Having cameras around all the time does get a little weird sometimes, especially when you just don’t want to be seen by anyone and someone is recording you. I’ve been getting more and more comfortable with it and trying to always remember to just be myself and not worry if cameras are around.
TGI: With the show, the swimwear line, traveling and competing, when do you find free time for yourself if ever? How do you balance everything? Do you like being a busy body, or do you sometimes wish you had time to relax and cruise?
AB: For me the greatest therapy in life is to be able to come home to Kauai and cruise with my family. The stress of months and months on the road and trying to keep up with all that’s on my plate is all washed clean when I can come home.
TGI: Since the beginning of your pro surfing career up to now, how has your lifestyle and career changed? What things are still the same? In what ways has the show itself influenced your career?
AB: At the beginning of my surf career, everything was pretty carefree and simple. I’ve been so lucky to have a had success so things are busier now, but I still feel like I’m able to live a simple life when the appearances and production days are off. The show has definitely had an effect on how many people know me now. I don’t think as many people recognized me before that and now I feel like way more people stop to say hi and want pictures, like on the street and in the airport.
TGI: With everything you’re involved with, is it necessary to plan ahead or do you just roll with it? Which do you prefer?
AB: I try to plan ahead, but sometimes in surfing you just have to roll with it. You can’t always plan for what’s coming and if you think it’s going to go a certain way and it doesn’t I feel like you set yourself up for disappointment.
TGI: How much of the show is filmed on Kauai and how much is filmed when traveling? How incorporated are your family and friends with the show when filming on the island? If they do get filmed, how excited are they?
AB: The first season of the show we filmed entirely in Kauai. The second season we filmed all on Oahu during the Triple Crown last year and this third season is more on the road for the contest season and then in Australia for a week. The first two season’s was all about my best friends and I and this third season they weren’t able to be around quite as much as I would have liked.
TGI: For fans who haven’t seen the show yet, how much of your personal life does the show reveal about yourself? Are there lines along your personal life that you won’t allow the show to cross? Or are you okay with being an open book?
AB: I feel like this season of the show pretty much shows what it’s like to be on the road with me at all these events. The cameras had access to me everywhere. I don’t think we left too much out. There wasn’t ever a time that I said, “don’t use that” so you get it all, I guess.
TGI: What other possible projects you have planned? For how long do you hope to continue with the show? What do you hope fans and casual viewers learn about you from watching?
AB: It’s hard to say what’s next. I’m focusing hard on this year’s tour starting next month, so that will take up a lot of the next few months. After that there are a lot of things that would be fun to do. I hope we keep doing the Surfer Girl show. I feel like It’s starting to become part of my life and there are so many more cool things we can do with it.
